My memory is that I was excited when I saw the first few volumes of this series at Tower Records and immediately bought all four volumes available. It's easy to forget now, but Rhino really was the first to reissue lots of stuff, so the appearance of these cds was finally making a lot of music from my childhood available again.

I Love this Rhino Series and have all but Vol. 20 Which I will get sometime in the near future as well. The Mark Lindsay track "Arizona" is a favorite of mine from this First Volume. I Like The Jaggerz "Rapper" too. Many of those tracks are not found too easily these days .

My favorites from volume 1 are probably the tracks by Spiral Starecase, Flying Machine, and Steam, though I like a lot of the others as well. Curiously I don't think I had ever heard the track by The Jaggerz when it was popular. It surprised me when I looked it up and saw it reached the top 10 as I just don't remember it getting much airplay where I lived.

Cherry Hill Park by Billy Joe Royal is a favorite of mine. Royal worked closely with Joe South (Hush, I Knew You When, These Are Not My People, etc.). One of singles that I've always liked was "Campfire Girls," and it peaked at #91 in 1966. Recently he's been touring with B.J. Thomas on what they call the "Raindrops and Boondocks" tour.

Volume 1 is fantastic, though "Mississippi Queen" sounds a bit out of place. I don't care if I ever hear "Na Na Na Na Na Hey hey" ever again, but I still love the rest of the songs.

All of the songs on the first few volumes are a bit before my time, but I remember hearing them all for the first time on oldies radio in the early 80's. "Cherry Hill Park" is probably my favorite of the bunch, followed by "Smile a Little Smile" and "More Today Than Yesterday"

The first time I heard "Venus" I thought "hey, that's the same riff as that Beatles Stars on 45 Medley"

These discs are marvelous, each and every one. Like other posters, I bought 'em when they first came out and they were -- in the early days of CD, when most releases were big and new -- like being transported in a wonderful time machine.

As these songs came out, my brother and I would sometimes sleep in the car (??) just because it had an AM radio and we could sample WLS late into the night. How my dad must have loved what that did to his battery!

This is a great volume, and actually starts out at the end of 1969. The only one I did not know before this series, and the one I don't really care for is "Come Saturday Morning"

The mastering is quite good, and state of the art for 1990. The only thing i wish they had done in this series is use more single versions, but that's OK for some things. I much prefer the LP version of Smith's "Baby, It's You".

Imagine the look on my face when I first read in Rolling Stone magazine early January in 1990 that this series was being released by Rhino! I just sat there with a big grin on my face. It was at work, and I was sitting in an office at the desk reading it after work.

My sister used to have the 45 of The Jaggerz "The Rapper," and I can't help but think that a different version was used for the cd issue of the song. Either that or my memory is showing its age.

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You are correct. The CD here uses the LP stereo version, while the mono 45 sounds different, in that there are effects at the beginning of the first, second, and third chorus. The guitars and vocals are louder, too.

I have seven of the series: vols. 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 14, 16. The one with How Do You Do by Mouth and Macneal was a fairly recent addition; the other six I bought within a couple of months, ten or fifteen years ago.

Early in the Morning by Vanity Fare is the clear standout track for me, followed by Tracy and Come Saturday Morning (which I also have on a Treasured Tunes CD).

Early in the Morning always reminds me of a chocolate malted milkshake for some reason. Maybe it's a bizarre instance of synaesthesia?

Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye, Baby It's You and More Today Than Yesterday are quite good, and I don't mind hearing Smile A Little Smile For Me once in a while.

Mississippi Queen and Cherry Hill Park (one of the most pointless songs ever) I can live without.